Ground Zero Mosque Project Fuels Heated Debate

(May 21) -- Plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from New York's ground zero have inflamed passions among supporters of the project and opponents who see it as an offense.

Last week, tea party founding member and conservative commentator Mark Williams turned up the heat when he wrote a blog post titled "Protected: Savage Islam Wants Mosque at Ground Zero -- monument to hijackers, 9/11 a 'positive' thing."

Williams wrote: "The monument would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god (repeat: 'the terrorists' monkey-god.' if you feel that fits a description of Allah then that is your own deep-seated emotional baggage not mine, talk to the terrorists who use Allah as their excuse and the Muslims who apologize for and rationalize them) and a 'cultural center' to propagandize for the extermination of all things not approved by their cult."

The original post is protected by a password, which readers can sleuth out by buying a copy of Williams' book, flipping to Page 81 and typing in the first word of the quote from Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr. Otherwise, The Huffington Post has reproduced part of it.

The 13-story complex would include a 500-seat auditorium, a swimming pool, art exhibition spaces, bookstores, restaurants and a space for prayer that could accommodate 2,000 people. The $100 million project is the brainchild of two Muslim organizations: the Cordoba Initiative and its sister organization, the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

The Cordoba Initiative website says the project "is about promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion through arts and culture." The center will be based on "Islamic values in their truest form -- compassion, generosity and respect for all."

On Thursday, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the chairman and founder of the Cordoba Initiative, appeared with city politicians in front of the Burlington Coat Factory building, the future site of the Cordoba House, and denounced Williams' comments as "lies" and "bigotry."

"We condemn terrorists. We recognize it exists in our faith, but we are committed to eradicate it," Rauf said, according to the New York Daily News. "This is about moderate Muslims who intend to be and want to be part of the solution."

Standing with Rauf Thursday were New York City Comptroller John Liu; state Sen. Daniel Squadron, who represents the area; and City Council members Margaret Chin and Robert Jackson. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has called Williams' comments "appalling," also supports the plan.

"Our city's open to anybody, no matter what your religion is," Bloomberg said.

On Wednesday, Williams issued an apology -- to Hindus. He said his comment about a "monkey god" was unintentionally offensive to Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an apelike deity.

While Williams, a frequent commentator on cable news networks like Fox and CNN, dramatically fanned the flames of the debate, other objectors, like families of Sept. 11 victims, have raised their voices as well.

"I think it's despicable, and I think it's atrocious that anyone would even consider allowing them to build a mosque near the World Trade Center," Rosemary Cain, whose son George, a firefighter, was killed in the attacks, told the The Associated Press.

Other victims' family members have voiced concern that the center will be used to plan more attacks, while some say it's just too close to ground zero. The site is so close, in fact, that a piece of landing gear from one of the hijacked planes fell through the coat store roof. The structure, badly damaged, was closed.

Writing in The Huffington Post on Monday, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, an Orthodox rabbi and media personality, suggested the main focus of the Cordoba House should be a memorial and museum dedicated to 9/11 victims.

"If the groups building the Cultural Center and mosque are prepared to make this its focus, they will have proven that they are not only enormously sensitive to the families of the victims who lost loved ones there, but that they are courageous voices who wish to take back their religion from the fiends who purport to represent it."